Half of the galleries, it added, had since been reopened.
“We wanted to update our marketing materials in the galleries to highlight our various domestic projects within Chinese shores,” chief strategy officer Yu Runze said, according to a report in The Star.
He was speaking to reporters in Johor Bahru during a visit by China’s ambassador Dr Huang Huikang to the development.
Yu added that half of the sales galleries had reopened since Monday, the daily reported. No number was given.
This follows a statement from the company last week, carried by Chinese media and quoted by Reuters, that it was closing and refurbishing mainland sales centres “to better fit with current foreign exchange policies and regulations”.
It added that the firm was looking to diversify its development strategy.
In a separate statement, also carried by Reuters, the Forest City project developer said the closures were in line with an earlier shift in marketing efforts and “not a knee-jerk reaction” to China’s policy.
“We have always planned to sell beyond China and have therefore chosen to bring those plans forward this year,” it was reported as saying.
Speaking to reporters today, Yu told The Star that the company had always aligned its marketing strategy to respond to policy changes in Malaysia and China.
“Chinese nationals are not allowed to convert yuan into foreign currencies to invest in property overseas. This has always been the case. We have always focused on those with offshore capital,” he was quoted as saying.
On March 10, media reports said Country Gardens had closed all sales centres in mainland China amid Beijing’s intensified crackdown on capital flight.
The company had been aggressively promoting Forest City to China residents.
But a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report quoted Raymond Cheng, Hong Kong-based property analyst at CIMB Securities, as saying that the Forest City project was losing its shine.
Cheng also warned that the project didn’t have much appeal for Malaysians and that China’s crackdown on capital outflows would slow sales in China, SCMP said.
Forest City is a futuristic smart city project to be built in Johor on four man-made islands spanning 1,385.6ha. Costing RM100 billion, it is expected to be completed within 20 years and will have a range of facilities, including housing units, offices and shopping malls.